Schedules for the meetings of the Governing Council and the General Council of the ECB and the related press conferences in 2010 and 2011

8 May 2009

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided that in the years 2010 and 2011 its meetings will continue to be held, as a rule, twice a month on a Thursday. As in previous years, exceptions to this rule are envisaged to accommodate special holiday situations.

As announced on 8 November 2001, the monetary policy stance of the ECB will continue to be assessed by the Governing Council, as a rule, only at the first meeting of the month. Accordingly, decisions on the key ECB interest rates will normally be taken during that meeting. Whenever it holds a second meeting in the month, the Governing Council will deal with issues related to other tasks and responsibilities of the ECB and the Eurosystem. Obviously, if warranted by the circumstances, the Governing Council can assess its monetary policy stance and decide to change the key ECB interest rates at any time, regardless of previously scheduled meetings. The meeting schedule of the Governing Council for 2010 and 2011 also takes into account the fact that reserve maintenance periods will start on the settlement day of the main refinancing operation following the Governing Council meeting at which the monthly assessment of the monetary policy stance is scheduled to take place.

In line with established practice, two meetings of the Governing Council will again be held outside Frankfurt in both 2010 and 2011. In 2010 the first one, on 6 May 2010, will be hosted by the Banco de Portugal and the second one, on 7 October 2010, will be hosted by De Nederlandsche Bank. In 2011 the first one, on 5 May 2011, will be hosted by Suomen Pankki – Finlands Bank and the second one, on 6 October 2011, will be hosted by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

The ECB’s General Council has decided that the current practice of having quarterly meetings is to be maintained. Whenever a General Council meeting coincides with the date of a Governing Council meeting, the Governing Council meeting starts on the Wednesday afternoon and resumes on the Thursday, as was announced at the press conference on 5 June 2008.

Finally, the current regime for holding press conferences will continue, i.e. they will generally take place after the first Governing Council meeting of the month.